Ugh I could not put this down! What a book I had been waiting for this one and it gave in to all my hype! Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this book

What to expect

Marriage of convenience
Dual POV
Enemies to lovers
Forced Proximity
One bed
Political intrigue
Slow burn
Sexual tension
Dragons
Light x Dark magic
Star Wars inspired
Reylo vibes

I probably should have reread book one because the first section of this book confused me—I couldn’t quite remember what happened previously. That said, the chemistry and tension really amped up in this installment. The romance took center stage, and I enjoyed seeing Talaysan and Alaric struggle with their feelings for each other. There were lots of ‘will they, won’t they’ moments, which I loved. However, the plot didn’t move much for me—I feel like nothing major really happened? Maybe, as the second installment, it’s setting things up for book three. I’ll definitely continue with the series, but next time, I’ll reread beforehand so I’m not as confused

Thank you NetGalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book sadly suffered from the widely known "second-book-syndrome". While i loved the romance elements in this one, the rest of the plot suffered severely. A lot of telling but not a lot of showing. Yet im still excited to read book three to find out how Talasyns and Alarics story conludes.

Unfassbar gute Fortsetzung der Legendären Fantasy Reihe !

Das Buch war einfach Klasse! Guanzon schafft es, die Spannung, Emotionen und Romantik die sie in "the Hurricane Wars" schuf nahtlos fortzuführen. Die Geschichte wird noch komplexer und auch Talasyn und Alaric wachsen spürbar und schießen Ihre Beziehung damit in neue Höhen. Ich kann kaum genug von den zwei haben!

Die Autoren schafft es erneut eine Welt voller Intrigen, Spannung, Krieg und Drama zu schaffen und ich habe jede Sekunde genossen. Dieses Buch war ein absolutes Jahreshighlight!
Eine absolute Leseempfehlung von mir!

Excuse me miss Guanzon but that was an amazing ride!!
Let me be clear I am a big Star Wars girly, NONE THE LESS no one prepared me for this series.
Sure our main character sad guy is Kylo Ren but not just Kylie Ren but on steroids, with so many human emotions and such passion I can faint.
I am not a big fan of the romantasy hype but putting it in a gorgeous light vs dark setting such as this one, with an amazing South-East Asian princess and a broody emo emperor I am in.
Please bring out the next book soon, I need more banter, more epic battles and more epicness right now!

“The west wind sighs, all moons die. Bakun, dreaming of his lost love, rises to eat the world above.”

Can I just say…WOW.

*I highly recommend listening to the interview the podcast BookTalk for BookTok did with Thea Guanzon if you plan on reading this series! You learn more about Guanzon’s Filipino background which is deeply embedded into the writing and world-building.

★ ★ ★ ★ 4.75 Stars (maybe 5 I can’t decide)

The hugest thank you to HarperVoyager and NetGalley for the ARC! I did end up buying myself a personal copy.

✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧ ✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧ ✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧

A Monsoon Rising continues exactly where we leave off from The Hurricane Wars. Talasyn heads to Kesath to be ordained as Night Empress to Alaric, and a skirmish breaks out between the Kesathese and the Dominion - quickly demonstrating Talasyn’s heart toward Alaric. A month later, Alaric returns to Nenavar to practice for the Moonless Night during Voidfell. They must use their opposing magicks to work together to save Lir from the death that Voidfell causes. Along the way, they must work through their feelings, political expectations, and what the Voidfell actually is.

“At the dawning of the world, you were there. You have seen the first dragon’s heart.”

We Get:
😮‍💨Enemies to lovers (but still kind of enemies
🤭Forced proximity because of the marriage
🙂‍↕️Incredibly rich world-building and prose
🤔World/magic system vibes reminiscent of Star Wars and Dune
🫢Alaric and Talasyn sparring
🫡Reylo vibes
😍Dragons
🙂‍↔️Betrayal
🫠LOTS OF SPICE

✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧ ✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧ ✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧

✩₊˚.⋆Talasyn: Our Lachis’ka and Night Empress is growing into her role and political domain. With this, her ability to LightWeave continues to improve with her necessary training with Alaric. Talasyn has to wrestle with her traitorous emotions for Alaric while trying to support a rebellion for the Continent. She is still annoyingly unable to harness her tongue at times, but she’s a little better.

✩₊˚.⋆ Alaric: By far my favourite character, maybe because I see myself in him. He is still very much a decoy for his father, Gaheris, who physically abuses Alaric if he does not succumb to his wishes. However, Alaric has his own little rebellion against his father as he and Talasyn grow closer, and he swears to himself to protect her. He even gets black whorling scars on his face 🫢

The Plot. Okay, so I’m assuming this is a trilogy? I guess I haven’t heard otherwise from Guanzon. I was incredibly impressed with the plot and writing considering this is the middle book - it did not suffer from middle book syndrome at all. In fact, this was a huge step up from book one. I thought it was fantastic and had me gripped. The main plot for this book is for Alaric and Talasyn to prevent the upcoming Voidfell from destroying Nenavar as well as the Continent, as well as both sides trying to prepare for War.

✩₊˚.⋆THE. CHEMISTRY. Holy holy. 😮‍💨 There is something to be said about spice written by an author who originally wrote fanfic. She knows what she’s doing. We got nothing for like a book and a half. And then we got everything.

Reasons points were lost: Honestly, there were times when I was reading and I would be so confused, and then things got cleared up a few pages later. We’d be dipped in to a situation without a clear explanation of what was happening. Do keep in mind I read an ARC, so this may not be the finalized product.

✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧ ✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧ ✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧

I’m seriously impressed with this book. It was written so beautifully, the plot was well constructed. I haven’t read such a rich fantasy in awhile. I’d say this book is definitely epic high fantasy - you’re truly transported to a new world that has customs and words and systems you have to learn. I am so excited for the next!

𝑩𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒊𝒏 𝑬𝒎𝒐𝒋𝒊𝒔: 🌗📝🍉🦋⛈️🪞

𝑸𝒖𝒐𝒕𝒆: ‘Briefly, she wondered what it would be like to live in a world where she was allowed to take his hand.’

𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒕: An enemies to lovers romantasy sequel (Book 2 in The Hurricane Wars Series). It’s ✨giving✨ The Bridge Kingdom meets Star Wars/Reylo🤭

𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒕:
🌗Idiots in love
⛈️”My Wife”
🌗Banter & Pining
⛈️Morally Grey Characters
🌗Reylo Coded characters in a South-East Asian inspired world of courtly politics and magical adventure
⛈️ Absolute FILTH 🪞🌶️🥵 ( we listen and we don’t judge… we love it)

𝑹𝒆𝒗𝒊𝒆𝒘:
This was one of my most anticipated sequels of 2024 and it was everything I wanted and more. Thea Guanzon manages to craft a beautiful and rich world with complex characters and relationships all the while making me laugh out loud (🍉), blush furiously (🪞) and simultaneously want to scream at Talasyn and Alaric and hug them ( I just want my morally grey little loves to live happily ever after😭😭)

For me, this book series is exactly what I want in a Romantasy book, especially one that promises enemies to lovers and morally grey characters: A well crafted fantasy with interesting and engaging lore in its own right blended with twists, turns, secrets and a sizzling, slow burn romance that works to bolster the plot and draws you in. The MC’s are flawed and though they may do questionable things it makes them feel real so that you can’t help but empathise with them and feel they are deserving of redemption and happiness.

Basically I love this book, Alaric “my wife” Ossinast has my heart and I will read anything Thea writes - I will never stop recommending this series🥰

𝑹𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

A Monsoons Rising is a good follow up to The Hurricane Wars, it's a bit slow on the plot and takes a while to get going but when it does it's packed with action and spice.

It's very politics heavy and I couldn't remember the characters, their names are all quite complicated too and I struggled to work out who was who a lot of the time. Once I decided to skim read over the political bits I enjoyed it a lot more, the relationship between Alaric and Talasyn is written brilliantly - the pining, the angst, the banter, it's perfect!

The ending is such a cliff hanger, I think I'll need to re-read both books before the sequel to make sure I get the characters and plot better next time.

As sequels go, it was pretty decent. Some elements were a bit predictable, and the pacing could have been better, but overall, it worked!

"Monsoon Rising" is an interesting continuation of the series with its world-building and engaging characters. The Southeast Asian-inspired setting adds a unique flair and after eagerly awaiting this next instalment, I found it satisfying and immersive, drawing me deeper into the characters' stories.

On the downside, some parts of the plot felt predictable and could have benefited from a faster pace. There were moments that dragged on without enough action, echoing issues from the previous book. While fans of arranged marriage tropes will enjoy the romance between Talasyn and Alaric, a stronger central conflict would have made the story even better. Overall, "Monsoon Rising" is a solid read that leaves me looking forward to more from the series.

Loved „the hurricane wars“ and was so excited for the second book in this series. And it didn’t disappoint. Loved it. Devoured it. Already ordered the physical copies for our store (and myself). The third and final installment is a must read.

I was beyond happy to have been given an e-ARC of this outstanding story. Having only recently read the previous book after waiting so long to get my hands on a special edition copy, which jumped its way to the top of my TBR, I knew that I needed the next instalment straight away and this did NOT disappoint!
The world building is brilliant, whilst the character development and plot twists kept me hooked. I can’t wait for this to come out in print so I can have my own beautiful copy to read again! Now to find something to do whilst I wait for the next instalment!

3.5/5

I was excited to jump into A Monsoon Rising after enjoying The Hurricane Wars, which I rated 4.5/5. The first book hooked me with its interesting magic, solid tension, and rich lore. This sequel, however, felt more focused on the romance than anything else.

While the tension between the main characters continued, much of the story revolved around their attraction to each other and how wrong it was because of their opposing sides. There were plenty of almost-intimate or very intimate moments, which felt repetitive after a while. The plot took a backseat for most of the book, though things finally picked up toward the end with some action and new revelations.

To be fair, this is romantasy, so a strong focus on romance is expected. It’s probably on me for wanting more plot and world-building when that’s not the main appeal of the genre. That said, the ending did enough to keep me interested in what comes next, and I’ve already ordered the special edition and plan to read the final book.

Would I recommend it? If you love romantasy where the romance is front and center, then absolutely. If you’re here mainly for the plot and magic system, you might feel like I did—wanting a little more.

The Hurricane Wars (THW) was a bit of a slog for me and only made sense once I found out it was originally Reylo fanfiction. Admittedly I'm a sucker for arranged marriage/ marriage of convenience tropes so I had high hopes for A Moonson Rising (AMR) but the same issues I had with THW (namely not enough happened to justify the page count) recurred in AMR . I actually feel like it would have been better if the Hurricane Wars and the Moonsong Rising were one book. The plot is weak and predictable, the world building is confusing (although the world being Southeast Asian inspired was refreshing) and the characterisation is mediocre so the focus should be on the romance. The events of the THW should be 25% of the consolidated novel with the rest being AMR with the key focus being on Talasyn and Alaric falling in love and learning to trust each other post arranged marriage. Not everything needs to be a trilogy.

This trilogy keeps being a delight, with such a rich worldbuilding and the amazing relationship between Talasyn and Alaric.

I though I knew where this would be headed, but I love that Thea Guanzon surprised me with her choices. With such an awesome world she could go in many directions, and she has chosen to go beyond expectations.

I loveeeee this series and cannot wait to read the 3rd installment, perfect for any romantasy lovers!

This sequel was everything! I love Alaric & Talasyn & I absolutely loved how their story and relationship developed in this book.
And what even was that ending?! I need the next book like yesterday!

thank you netgalley and harper voyager for a review copy!

I loved the hurricane wars and think this was a fantastic sequel! The characters were amazing and I really enjoyed the world building and seeing more of their magic. Without any spoilers from the first book, this one continues the story of Talasyn and Alaric preparing to stop the Moonless Dark, a catastrophic event which only happens every thousand years. I liked the plot but I found it a little bit slow at times until the end which was very fast paced. The ending was amazing (and such a shock) and now I am desperate for the next book!! I strongly recommend this series if you have not read them yet and definitely recommend continuing the series if you read the first book!!

This was fine, and I do still think I will read the next book, but I don’t think it was quite as good a fit for me as it would be for some people.

I found the first half the book quite slow going. Not very much happened plot-wise, but there was a lot of character development and conversation- again this will definitely be more to others’ taste.

While enemies-to-lovers is a not unusual trope, the main couple here have a good go at being both enemies and lovers at the same time.

Thank-you to NetGalley and Harper Collins for the opportunity to read an eArc.

I have to say I’ve soft DNF’d this. I’ve picked it up multiple times but haven’t got further than 150pages. I can’t seem to get invested in the characters at the moment. I don’t know if it’s the book or just me. So will try again later.